The SCORE (Support of Competitive Research) Program is a developmental program designed to increase the research competitiveness of faculty at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and the research capabilities of MSIs. To better achieve these objectives, the SCORE program has been revised so that separate funding opportunities exist for individual investigator-initiated research awards and for a stand-alone institutional award. The mechanisms used for these funding opportunities are the SC1, SC2 and SC3 awards for individual investigators and the S06 award for institutions. SC1 (PAR-06-491) and SC2 (PAR-06-492) applications will be assigned to NIGMS with secondary assignments to the above listed Institutes according to the research topic of the application based on standard NIH receipt and referral guidelines. Each Institute maintains a website with funding opportunities and areas of interest. Applicants are advised to visit these Websites and to contact Institute representatives to help develop their research plan consistent with the mission of that IC. For further information, see http://www.nih.gov/icd, which provides a brief summary of the research interests of each Institute and access to individual Institute home pages.

Eligibility to apply for SCORE individual awards follows the NIGMS policy on faculty development mechanisms that requires Principal Investigators (PIs) to be on regular full-time appointments as independent investigators. Research instructors, research assistant professors, research scientists, other research appointments or appointments contingent on an individual securing salary from grants, and part-time or adjunct faculty or postdoctoral fellows are not eligible to apply for SCORE individual awards. Emeritus professors/investigators as well as individuals with considerable publications and a track record of external support are considered to be fully developed and may not apply for any of the SC awards. Current recipients of any NIH, NSF or other developmental awards are also ineligible to apply for any SC award.